Trials & Tribulations - The drama of running a business and of life.It's not as easy as it looks. Running a business is full of drama. Customers, employees, money, family, time. You name it, it's a problem. Share with us your drama and how you handled it.

What a Friggin Day

Trials & Tribulations - The drama of running a business and of life.

It's not as easy as it looks. Running a business is full of drama. Customers, employees, money, family, time. You name it, it's a problem. Share with us your drama and how you handled it.

I will post some pics tomorrow night as we start the job first thing tomorrow.

I look forwards to seeing them!

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As for the panic attack and how it effected me, did a lot of reading as I was curious, sometimes we are under a lot more stress than we realize which is reallly hard on the body and when things like this happen, the body somewhat shuts down.

You also gotta wonder if you have been eating right and sleeping enough. I bet that can have a huge factor in it as well.

You also gotta wonder if you have been eating right and sleeping enough. I bet that can have a huge factor in it as well.

One thing we do is eat well, I have a breakfast sandwich on the way to work with orange juice and generally we hit Subway or a place like that at lunch, as for sleeping I hit the sack by 10 every evening and get up around 5:30 to do paperwork, check the forums etc. It's the seven days a week, I think in the back of my mind I am concerned over when the weather here will swing, I dress in layers as even yesterday and again this morning it's pretty cool outside, in your temps around 40, and knowing other stuff I would like to get done and some things I have to get done before the snow flies.

Variety keeps me going, if I was running an excavator 7 days a week I would be a basket case, I switch my own jobs up from spraying, mowing to running machinery.

Yesterday I ran the excavator for 9 hours, it was great, today and tomorrow I am running a loader at this pool sight, that will be fun as it's been a week or so since I did this, Thursday Deere hired me to demonstrate their new line of excavators, loaders, skid steers etc. that will be fun, $$$ is amazing but that is not why I am doing it, they treat me like gold so it's an honor to do this and they have told me many times they don't know of any company that can operate this size of equipment the way we do and get the results and business like we do.

Friday I am trading with a mowing crew and mowing with my helper for the day to teach him how we do it, he is generally with me on bigger construction sites, Saturday I will be rebuilding a private road that is 3,000 feet long, this will be a super fun project.

I get tired mentally keeping track of everything on the go, I stopped doing quotes a few weeks ago other than to neighbours, our response from website inquiries is we are now fully booked for the season however we do appreciate you contacting us, we would be happy to look at your project in April of 2010, Thanks Again!

This has dropped the stress level a lot as it's one less task to balance, the company is winding down for the season now, slowly but we will get there.

Frig it calls for snow flurries Thursday and I still have 18 projects to get to including clearing and building two out door skaing rink areas, just the excavation and tree clearing for the government, big bucks and very easy work, that will be my last two projects of the season.

Thursday Deere hired me to demonstrate their new line of excavators, loaders, skid steers etc. that will be fun, $$$ is amazing but that is not why I am doing it, they treat me like gold so it's an honor to do this and they have told me many times they don't know of any company that can operate this size of equipment the way we do and get the results and business like we do.

How does this work out? Do you go to their store and drive it around for potential customers to watch? Or is there more to it?

How does this work out? Do you go to their store and drive it around for potential customers to watch? Or is there more to it?

No, these are big machines brought into a quarry by tractor trailer, the sales guys speak, I do the demos depending on what the potential customer is interested in, it's advertised on TV and paper, probably 2,500 people will show and yes tire kickers also.

That fascinates me they would call you to do this. It makes sense, but I would have figured the staff at John Deere would know how to use all these machines and wouldn't need to hire anyone to do such a job.

But maybe it just comes down to, they know how to speak about the machines and you know how to use the machines in real life situations.

This sounds like it is going to be very interesting.

How often do they have these and have you ever been to one before? What do you think of them?

That fascinates me they would call you to do this. It makes sense, but I would have figured the staff at John Deere would know how to use all these machines and wouldn't need to hire anyone to do such a job.

But maybe it just comes down to, they know how to speak about the machines and you know how to use the machines in real life situations.

This sounds like it is going to be very interesting.

How often do they have these and have you ever been to one before? What do you think of them?

With no disrespect to the dealer, the staff know what they have read about the machines and sell based on that, this is one reason the dealer had every staff member come out and work with me for at least a day, we know all the in's and out's, things never mentioned in the brochure and there is nothing that compares to hands on experience.

I have tought the dealer a lot, my tractors all have custom features that I either saw somewhere, read about or used on a larger model.

They have these demo's once in the spring which I worked at and actually sold 7 pieces of equipment on my own and one in the fall, this is the big one as snow removal gear will be there also.

Running machines is simply in my blood, my sister was a massive potatoe farmer, around 1,200 acres, 16++ tractors and two very large barns full of gear, I loved working on the farm and starting driving tractors around the age of 12 by myself, running them day in and out, I was running a skid steer by the age of 13 in the barns moving potatoes from bins to train cars, I think the only machine I know of that I have not operated would be a boom lift, everything else I have even bull dozers as we used them on the farm to clear new land.

You should take some pictures of the demo. I'd love to see what goes on there at them.

Also, you could offer to make some videos for them on how to operate the different machinery. They could be put into dvd format and attached to the machinery. Or they could be made available for viewing on their website.

In the past you have talked about how fantastic their support has been for their product and it has made me wonder, are other manufacturers on par with them or does John Deere simply stand out with their support?

You should take some pictures of the demo. I'd love to see what goes on there at them.

Also, you could offer to make some videos for them on how to operate the different machinery. They could be put into dvd format and attached to the machinery. Or they could be made available for viewing on their website.

In the past you have talked about how fantastic their support has been for their product and it has made me wonder, are other manufacturers on par with them or does John Deere simply stand out with their support?

Very good question, it depends on where you live.

I belong to a tractor forum which is massive, some folks have very poor experiences with Deere, I should say the Deere dealer.

Color doesn't mean a lot to me, it's how well the product performs and the team where I bought it to back it up.

I have operated machinery from six differnet manufacturers, they all have their strengths and weakness but when the day is done, they will all do the job.

My blood runs green only because of the dealer, the staff, the support and the feeling like I am family, once I am in bed with a product or manufacturer, a sales guy's chances of switching me are near zip, like the old saying goes better the devil you know than the one you don't, even when I have an issue with something which is rare, it's a none issue after a quick telephone call and it has happened a few times this year.